Puzzle Progress

     Wanted to update that God is definitely at work right now with some pretty awesome things going on!! We have had some very generous donations and with all our income taxes put towards the adoption we are now short $2236.00. We continue to trust that the Lord will provide as he has every step of the way so far. We are so grateful for the experience that this adoption process has brought to us, for the people we have met, and most importantly seeing God at work! We are so blessed and continue to be blown away by the generosity of everyone! Believe me, the hardest part of this process has been asking/begging/pleading for money! We know times are hard for everyone, so for people to give up their hard earned money to help us bring our child home is a blessing and we are grateful and thankful. I want ya'll to know that we are contributing to this as much as possible too, with my second job and by cutting out stuff we don't need. (cable tv, going out to eat, etc)
     We have two fundraisers coming up that we are super excited about! We have one on March 10th at the church, it is a "Parent's Night Out" which will consist of us watching the kids for two hours, playing games and watching a movie. Second one is called Both Hands and will be taking place on April 20th (hopefully). This is going to be an awesome opportunity where we organize a team and go help a Widow that is in need. The team sends out letters to their friends and family to be sponsored for the day and all the money goes toward our adoption and is tax-deductible! Check out this video on you tube to see an example of a both hands project, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wvhe9iIGzs.
     As far as the puzzle fundraiser, please continue to spread the word! As of today we have sold 345 pieces! The picture below is taken from yesterday when we had sold 135.

Prayers Needed!

 So, Allan and I got all our paperwork organized and ready to be sent in. Just waiting on Secretary of State for authentication on 3 more documents! To be honest we had been so focused on getting the paperwork ready that we haven't paid close attention to the money lately. I mean we are constantly trying to raise money but now we know we are $3,225.00 short. We have to have a total of $7,700.00 to send in the Dossier and 1st installment of fees. This has left us discouraged as we are running out of time! All the documents have been notarized and will expire so we have to come up with this money fast. We are trusting in the Lord to provide the way for us. Just this morning, the Lord put a very dear friend in our path that gave us $100.00 towards the Adoption. What a blessing! Now, only $3,125.00 to go! We believe in the power of prayer and are asking that you join us in prayer; that this money will be taken care of! We know the Lord has a plan and that he will provide. Thank you in advance for your prayers!



Also, I finally got a picture of our earring display that we have at Total Auto Repair & Service in Brevard. Our friend, Dolores has been such a blessing in helping us sell our earrings. We have had a lot of people help us out by purchasing earrings from there. We recently dropped the price to $5.00 a pair in hopes that more people will donate to this great cause. So, the next time you need some repairs on your car go by there and buy a pair of earrings while you're at it! :)

Waiting...

So the past week or so has been a very frustrating waiting game! We have been waiting on the last letter to be re-done and the person who needed to do this took over a week and a half to get it to us. I was really upset and frustrated by the whole situation because this is extremely urgent to us and the only thing holding us back! But, God answered our prayers because we finally got the letter today and mailed it in to the Secretary of State. As soon as we get it back with state authentication then we are ready to send in all our paperwork to submit our Dossier! Yay! We are ready to be done with this paperwork as this will bring us one step closer to bringing our child home!

A friend let me borrow a book called "The Strength of Mercy" By Jan Beazley. It is an awesome book and I recommend you read it!! It was much needed with all the mess of waiting on the letter. It is a true testimony of how God guided and directed a family through international adoption. It was a nice reminder to me of God's promises!  We have a promise from God and He has a plan for each of us! God's plan is our blueprint which is the roadway to His promise. We all walk an appointed way with events and circumstances, that we don't choose, and only He knows the path that we will take. For us, His promise is "He settles the barren women in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the LORD!" Psalm 113:9, he doesn't tell us the plan on how this will happen but he does promise that it will!  We just have to be patient and wait on God's plan.  I really suggest you find this book and read it! :)

Also, we have assembled 47 pieces of the puzzle, only 953 to go! We are excited but we sure did pick a hard puzzle! All those dark colors don't make for an easy time. Luckily, Allan is a pro at puzzles so he might be in charge of putting it together and I'll write the names on the back! We had one bought with the request to put a dog's name on it which I thought was interesting, but it works! Now we might just have to put our pets names on some too! :) Pictures to come soon on the progress!

We are so grateful for all those that have helped us with this fundraiser and all the other ones as well. We thank God for each of you and your heart to help us bring our child home. We are so blessed!